The Loss Of The Golden Feathers
Published #80 | Spring 2026 Issue
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Material things just help us live. If we cannot control our desire for them, not only will we start misbehaving, but we may also bring endless worries upon ourselves. Let us only take what we need. Otherwise, our greed will be like a bottomless pit, and we won’t be able to get out.
After her husband passed away, a woman took her three daughters with her to a rich man’s house to be servants. The four of them lived a very hard life.
One day, a goose with golden feathers landed in front of the three girls. He said, “I am your father. I know that your life is very hard, and your mother has to work very hard to raise you. You can pluck some of my feathers and sell them to make some money and live a better life.”
Happily, the mother told her daughters to pluck his shiny golden feathers. Each of them pulled out four or five and bundled them together to sell. The money they made was enough to help them live a good life.
The golden goose promised to visit them every few days so they could pluck more of his feathers and sell them. Slowly, their lives got better and better.
One day, the woman said to her three daughters, “We can’t even trust people; how can we possibly count on a bird? Even though this golden goose lets us pluck his feathers, what if he stops coming? How will we live? Next time he comes, let’s pluck out all his feathers. If we can sell them all, we’ll be rich forever.” So, the four of them did exactly that.
Having lost all his feathers, the goose could no longer fly. So, the woman put him in a cage. Soon, his feathers grew back. However, the new ones were regular white feathers instead of golden ones.
From Master Cheng Yen Tells Stories: The Loss of the Golden Feathers by Shih Cheng Yen, published in 2015 by Jing Si Publishing
